Okay, okay, so it’s not Monkey Island… but it’s got pirates, guns, swords AND Voodoo Dolls! The game is called Risen 2: Dark Waters. For those who don’t know what this is all about, here’s a quick definition of this genre:

A role-playing game (RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. In most modern RPGs, the player can complete quests in order to gain experience points which can be spent on upgrading the character’s stats (such as strength, dexterity, mana etc).

Now add pirates to the recipe and you’ve got yourself a Guybrush wannabe. Oh, what’s that? You’ll believe it when you see it? …fine by me! (take note, the trailer may be a bit violent).

Continue reading if you want to find out more! (pics of artwork and actual gameplay screenshots included)

Risen 2: Dark Waters was announced in February, but it recently caught our attention with the new trailer… it does seem a bit inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean (Tia Dalma, anyone?). The game takes place several years after the original, after “monstrous creatures” have risen from the sea and are generally misbehaving. The hero, now an Inquisitor, hears rumours that a group of pirates might know how to get rid of them, and off you go. As far as I understand, you don’t need to know the original game’s story to enjoy this one, as the setting is “fresh”.

Development is again handled by Piranha Bytes. Prior to Risen, the studio created Gothic and developed the first three games in the fantasy RPG series, which are now generally known as the best RPGs in history. The most recent Gothic game, ArcaniA: Gothic 4, was developed instead by Spellbound. The fourth Gothic game is not the best representation of the RPG genre… just…stay away from it. Really.

To give you an idea of what to expect from our new Piratey RPG, here are two gameplay clips from Risen 1 and Gothic 3. Imagine this…with big ships! Beautiful sunsets! Jungles where you have to run for your life! …having trouble imagining all that? What’s with you people today?!

Fiiine, here are some brilliant artwork pictures! One, Two and Three. (or is it gameplay? I honestly cannot tell with modern games, they all look so great!)

According to Deep Silver, the game’s publisher, Risen 2 “aims to combine the most loved classic RPG gameplay mechanics of the original Risen with a fresh theme and setting on a huge variety of themed island locales.” The publisher also says that the sequel “maintains the most immersive features of the original Risen, with multiple approaches to every challenge allowing players to shape the game world based on their own decisions.” How does that sound?

…you STILL want more?! Alright, here is a link to a bunch of awesome screenshots. Gameplay, no doubt!

“Unlike Risen1, Dark Waters will feature multiple islands, at least three according to Piranha Bytes. These adventure areas will be smaller in size than Faranga from the first game, but in total will comprise a larger area of land filled with something on the order of 60 to 80 hours of content to play through.

Throughout the journey you’ll get access to pistols, rifles, shotguns and even cannon. Melee combat will be an option as well if the idea of firing bullets in a game like this doesn’t sit well with you, and a magic system will exist too. If you want to learn thief skills, you’ll need to find a trainer and build a relationship in order to unlock the ability to purchase upgrades. In the same way, if you act like a jerk to a trainer, there’s a chance you’ll be locked out from ever learning what they have to teach. This is an open-world game, after all, so you have a lot of freedom regarding building and customizing the protagonist into your ideal version of a swashbuckling fantasy hero.

Risen 2: Dark Waters has day night cycles, NPCs that follow sleep and work routines, and more of the kind of open-world role-playing game features that tend to be expected these days. Considering the developer, if you consider yourself to be a role-playing game fan, you should definitely keep an eye on this one.” – IGN Preview

Risen 2: Dark Waters is in development for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Deep Silver gave no indication of when the game’s due out.

What do you think? Will this keep you occupied until Tales of Monkey Island 2? Or is the idea sinking faster than LeChuck’s dignity?

5 Responses to “Monkey Island – RPG ?!”

Looks nice! I would like to try it when it comes, unless it has too many unnecessary parts. I enjoyed Gothic, (And one of my favourite things about it was the bad voice acting – this alone is a reason to play it,) although I heard that the third game and Risen weren’t so good. I just hope that there is a fine focus on plot and perhaps more forgiving gameplay at the beginning. Because one things that you had to do ALL THE TIME in Gothic was to save. And load. And load. And load.

Ah yes…saving and loading, hahaha! Good times!
I loved Gothic. My bro is a Gothicahollic. Risen was really nice, but the characters were dull, that’s what drove me away from it. The story was….meh… interesting. The gameplay was truly it’s strong point.

I think that Gothic is quite popular amongst adventure game fans. My friend introduced me to this game one or two years ago, and I also have the second game but didn’t finish it. (Maybe I will try to play it again soon.)
One thing that i am still looking forward to is that someone will at last upload Jacko’s (the boss of the bandits in the cave near the new camp) line: ‘What the hell are YOU DOING here’ to Youtube.
Oh, and the combat system in Gothic was one of the strangest I ever saw. The interface in general was weird.